Mom Camp Week 4: The Great Outdoors🌿Easy Outdoor Crafts, Nature Activities for Kids, and Backyard Camping Fun

Brianne Martin
Jul 7
4 min read

This week at Mom Camp, we traded screens for sunshine and embraced all things wild and wonderful with The Great Outdoors Week! The goal was simple: minimal prep, maximum time outside. And honestly? It was exactly what we needed.

☀️ Why We Chose a Nature-Themed Week

Spending time outdoors is one of the easiest (and cheapest!) ways to keep kids engaged, active, and happy. No screens. No fancy supplies. Just fresh air, messy hands, and lots of exploring.

Whether you live near hiking trails or have just a small backyard, this nature-focused week is a great reminder that the best summer camp memories can happen right outside your door.

🔍 Our Nature Activities This Week

Here’s a closer look at what we did — all of which required very little setup and used items we mostly had on hand.

🧭 1. Nature Scavenger Hunt

We kicked off the week with a DIY nature scavenger hunt using a simple checklist of outdoor items:

A rock
A leaf
A flower
A stick
A pine cone
A bug
A feather
An acorn
A spider web
A mushroom
A puddle
A tree stump

We used her backpack to collect the items that could be carried and talked about what we found along the way. This is a great activity for toddlers and preschoolers because it turns a walk into an adventure. If you want to do your own nature scavenger hunt, feel free to use this free PDF I created⬇️

🐞 2. Bug Catching + Free Play

We set up a bug-catching station with a magnifying glass and a small container. Adeline spent hours exploring our yard looking for ants, beetles, and “nice ladybugs only.” Most afternoons were filled with unstructured outdoor play — digging, running, making up games, and getting very, very dirty.

🐦 3. DIY Bird Feeders with Popsicle Sticks

This was our main craft of the week and super simple:

Popsicle sticks
Non-toxic glue
String or twine
Birdseed

We stacked and glued the sticks into a square shape, tied a string for hanging, and filled it with birdseed. Hanging them in the yard gave us a great excuse to sit quietly and watch for visiting birds all week long.

🚤 4. Stick Boats for Water Play

Using small twigs, rubber bands, and leaves, we made miniature stick rafts and tested them in the lake (a plastic bin of water works too!). A perfect low-prep STEM activity disguised as play, and it sparked a lot of creative storytelling — pirate voices included.

🎨 5. Painted Rocks

We collected some stones during our scavenger hunt and broke out our paint for some rock painting fun. Most became abstract masterpieces, and a few even got googly eyes. This one’s always a hit and requires nearly zero cleanup.

⛺️ Our Backyard "Field Trip": Camping Under the Stars

Our Mom Camp field trip this week was extra special: Adeline camped outside with Drew (her dad) — and she made it through the whole night!

We kept it simple with a tent, sleeping bags, flashlights, and snacks. It was her first night “in the wild,” and it made for a magical memory without ever leaving the yard. If you're looking for a way to try backyard camping with kids, this is your sign to go for it!

🎬 🍉Nature-Inspired Snacks and Outdoor Nature-Themed Movie Night

This week’s snacks were playful and themed — but still easy enough to prep without losing your mind.

🌲 Tree Cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes topped with pretzel stick “trunks” and melted green candy wafers shaped like evergreen trees.

🌸 Flower Fruit Skewers

We used watermelon cut into flower shapes and green grapes as the stems

✅ Fun to assemble

✅ No refined sugar

✅ Toddler-approved

🌰 Mini Acorn Treats

Made with:

Mini vanilla wafers
Hershey’s Kisses
A dab of chocolate to “glue” a chocolate chip on top

I held the chocolate in a warm sauce pan (over low heat) for a few seconds until the chocolate began to melt, then stuck it on the wafer cookie. Super simple, adorable and devoured in under 60 seconds!

We wrapped up the week with a movie night. I decided to let Adeline choose this week. The options were between Pocahontas and The Lorax...and she chose to speak for the trees, so The Lorax it was! It ended up being a be a perfect option that the whole family enjoyed. Plus it fit the week’s theme perfectly.

🌼 More Minimal-Prep Nature Activities for Kids

If you're planning your own outdoorsy week or want more ideas, here are a few more low-effort, nature-focused activities:

Nature bracelets: Wrap a strip of masking tape (sticky side out) around your child’s wrist and let them stick leaves, flowers, and grass to it.
Shadow tracing: Use chalk to trace each other’s shadows on the driveway.
Cloud watching: Lay in the grass and spot animals or shapes in the clouds.
Mud kitchen: Let them mix dirt, water, and grass in old pots or muffin tins — no rules, just messy fun.
Leaf rubbings: Place leaves under paper and use crayons to reveal their textures.

💬 Final Thoughts: Nature Made Easy

The Great Outdoors Week was a refreshing reminder that kids don’t need complicated plans to have an unforgettable summer. With just a few materials and a willingness to get a little dirty, we made memories that will last long after the last popsicle melts.

If you’re a parent planning your own at-home summer camp, let this be encouragement:👉 You don’t need a national park or a Pinterest board. You just need to step outside.

Here’s to fresh air, fireflies, and the kind of sticky, sandy joy that only summer can bring.